Student film festival grows up

January 16, 2009|By JACK WALTON Tribune Correspondent

As a University of Notre Dame undergraduate in the 1980s, Ted Mandell enjoyed private screenings of short films that he and his classmates made. When he joined the faculty, he set up a public festival for the movies in order to make them available to a broader audience.

The Notre Dame Student Film Festival is now in its 20th year, and has gone from a casual gathering to a major campus event.

Â?On graduation weekend, weÂ?d have our parents come up to a loft in OÂ?Shaughnessy Hall, and the graduating seniors would get their films out and that was our big screening,Â? Mandell says. Once he had achieved faculty clout, he set about expanding the idea more ambitiously. Â?The films are made to be seen by an audience Â? not just your family and classmates.Â?

The festivalÂ?s debut in 1990 drew around 50 people to the basement of what is now McKenna Hall. The idea steadily generated buzz, though, and the venue has gotten a lot more prestigious: ItÂ?s now presented in the state-of-the-art Browning Cinema inside the DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts. And in recent years, most of the screenings have been sold out.

Â?That means at least 1,200 people are viewing it,Â? Mandell says. Â?ThatÂ?s pretty exciting for a student whoÂ?s basically putting homework up on the screen.Â?

Mandell has been gratified to observe the project grow over the years, and now the festival is as coveted a ticket as the beloved Keenan Revue, the annual series of stage skits put on by Keenan Hall.

Â?After the first few years, it really built up a lot of momentum,Â? Mandell says. Â?ItÂ?s a definite staple now.Â?

Showing the films at the Browning Cinema has also expanded the audience beyond the Notre Dame community. The 2007 documentary, Â?Welcome to Snyderville,Â? which depicted some of the dark comedy that colored the misadventures in Roseland politics, helped too.

Â?The quality of the films and the quality of the venue have helped bring in a lot of audience from outside the campus,Â? Mandell says. Having subject matter that reaches beyond the insular world of university life can only encourage more people to seek out the films.

This yearÂ?s offerings include short films on a wide variety of subjects, from the secretive rituals of the Opus Dei order, to people who still worship James Dean, to an avant-garde Â?experiment in film poetry.Â?

Â?The festival is a good mix of pieces that kind of relate to the community of Notre Dame and also pieces that donÂ?t require any knowledge of Notre Dame at all,Â? Mandell says.

Several former student filmmakers have gone on to apply their knowledge in fields outside the arts. Mandell says that graduates have used their film skills in jobs from dentist to officer in the U.S. Navy to video game designer. Others have found careers within the movie industry.

Stephen Susco went on to grad school at USC and then became a professional screenwriter. Among other things, he wrote the script for the 2004 Sarah Michelle Gellar vehicle, Â?The Grudge.Â? Another ND graduate, Maggie Ruffing, is now a producer for NFL Films.

Â?When she was here, I wouldnÂ?t have imagined her making a video about the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, but here you learn about not just the technological abilities Â? how to shoot, how to edit Â? but also how to tell a story,Â? Mandell says. Â?If you can do that in a five-minute student film, you can probably apply it to a two-hour feature film or a 30-minute video for the NFL. Telling a story is an art form, and thatÂ?s what theyÂ?re learning.Â?

The Notre Dame Student Film Festival runs Jan. 22 through Jan. 24 at Notre Dame. There are two screenings each day, at 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. Admission is $6-$3. For more information, call (574) 631-2800 or visit the Web site www.performingarts.nd.edu.